Obamacare fails to stop health insurance rates from skyrocketing by
double digits...despite claims it would make health care cheaper

Health insurance companies across the country are attempting to increase their premiums for customers by over 25 percent - even though Obamacare was introduced to stem the rising cost of health care

At risk from the rising rates are small businesses and those who do not have their health care plan offered by their employer and are left to find their own insurance.

In California, Anthem Blue Cross wants to hike the cost of their premiums by 26 percent and in Florida and Ohio, some insurers want to raise their prices by at least 20 percent - leaving customers several hundred dollars a month worse off.

People participate in a protest on the second day of oral arguments for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2012. The law was approved by the court but insurance costs are still rising for some

The proposed increases in the health care costs compare with only four percent for families and individuals who have plans offered through their jobs.

Under the Affordable Care Act, which will not be fully enacted until 2014, regulators are now required to review any request to raise a rate by more than 10 percent and to publish their findings on healthcare.gov

However, some of the insurance providers such as Blue Shield and Anthem Blue Cross argue that medical costs for some are rising faster than the average - indicating a sicker population.

Critics of the ability of some states to exempt themselves from legislation preventing health care plan cost rises say that it is a loophole that needs closing in the Affordable Care Act.

'This is business as usual,' said Dave Hone the California insurance commissioner. to the New York Times.

'It’s a huge loophole in the Affordable Care Act.'

Healthcare costs in the USA are designed to stabilise when the Affordable Care Act is instituted fully in 2014

Without any federal or state legislative action, states that can not review health care plan increases only have the power to question them.

However, California insurers have said they have no choice if underlying medical costs keep on rising.

'We need these rates to even come reasonably close to covering the expenses of this population,' said Tom Epstein, a spokesman for Blue Shielf of California.

Federal officials say the law has resulted in significant savings. 'The health care law includes new tools to hold insurers accountable for premium hikes and give rebates to consumers,' said Brian Cook, a spokesman for Medicare.